


Positive

by kopycat_101



Series: Nathmarc November [22]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bisexual Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Boys In Love, Cats, Dorks, Dorks in Love, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friendship, Future, Gay Marc Anciel, Getting Together, M/M, Married Couple, Minor Ivan Bruel/Mylène Haprèle, Minor Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Mutual Pining, POV Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Pining, Slash, Teen Crush, Teenagers, Time Skips, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, most of the class is mentioned but they don't have speaking lines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27677618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kopycat_101/pseuds/kopycat_101
Summary: Nathaniel and his classmates have a habit of sharing cute pet photos among them to fight off the stress of Akumatization, because therapy sometimes just doesn’t cut it, and trauma forges friendships stronger than steel. Plus, cute animal photos! Everyone loves to see them.When Marc enters Nathaniel’s life, a member of the Art Club and also a victim of Akumatization, one of the first things asked is if he has any pets.The usually shy writer brightens with the question, sitting up straight and smiling. “O-Oh, yes! I have a cat! Here, let me show you—”
Relationships: Alix Kubdel & Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Marc Anciel & Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg
Series: Nathmarc November [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994782
Comments: 19
Kudos: 47





	Positive

**Author's Note:**

> For NathMarc November Day 22: Your favorite animal
> 
> Ya'll don't even know how badly I wanted to make the title of this oneshot a pun, I swear to God I was constantly changing it because I couldn't decide--
> 
> You'll be able to tell really quickly which is my favorite animal just by reading this fic, I'm sure.
> 
> Also featuring Bustier's class, who are all friends bonded by trauma, and they deal with that through showing each other cute animal pics. This is canon now.

* * *

Nathaniel isn’t big on animals, though he considers them to be really cute.

He’s never had a pet before, if one didn’t count the fish chilling in the little fish tank in the living room. He used to have some hamsters, when he was a kid, but he doesn’t remember them. There’s pictures in old photo albums of five-year-old him and Alix holding the hamsters. But inevitably, those hamsters died, and Nathaniel vaguely recalls being very sad over them, as young kids experiencing the death of their first pet typically do.

His backyard still has the little line of overturned flowerpots he and Alix painted to serve as their hamsters’ tomb stones. And since then, he never got another pet.

Pets were…a lot of work. Nathaniel, even as a toddler, was shy and overwhelmed easily. Adding in pets would complicate that. Not to mention, he already had enough on his plate with following after Alix and keeping her out of trouble.

He remembers her schemes on getting a pet. Once, she roped him into trying to convince Papa Kubdel to keep the racoon that dug through their trash. _That_ was an adventure.

At fifteen, Nathaniel is currently fine with not having a pet. Yes, it seemed nice in theory, but for practicality’s sake? Not so much. He had a disorganized room full of art materials that were no doubt hazardous if accidentally eaten and were choking hazards. That just spelled disaster, if he ever got a pet.

Other than Alix, he knows Juleka and Marinette don’t have pets either, do to issues of space and practicality. Rose has a rabbit she squeals over and shows them pictures of constantly.

Kim casually mentioned his parents having fish, Max is allergic to most animal dander, Adrien’s dad fucking sucks and won’t let him have even the companionship of an animal to distract from his modeling, and Nino had been begging his mothers for a pet for as long as he can remember until they compromised by letting him have a turtle.

Most of his classmates don’t have pets, and the few that do are always happy to share cute pet photos. The one with the most pets is Ivan, who has two big dogs and two cats. He shares pictures of them with a frequency that doesn’t match his tough appearance, because Ivan is a softie, and the rest of the class love and appreciate them.

Of course, Mylene gets to be the first to see the animal pictures, as well as see them when she visits Ivan’s home. Girlfriend privileges, and all.

Nathaniel half-contemplates dating someone just to get access to their pet and cuddles, before deeming the idea too ludicrously stupid.

* * *

Nathaniel and his classmates have a habit of sharing cute pet photos among them to fight off the stress of Akumatization, because therapy sometimes just doesn’t cut it, and trauma forges friendships stronger than steel. Plus, cute animal photos! Everyone loves to see them.

When Marc enters Nathaniel’s life, a member of the Art Club and also a victim of Akumatization, one of the first things asked is if he has any pets.

The usually shy writer brightens with the question, sitting up straight and smiling. “O-Oh, yes! I have a cat! Here, let me show you—”

The rest of the club gathers around their table, cooing and laughing at the pictures he shows them. Nathaniel has the best seat to see, sitting on Marc’s right and hovering over his shoulder.

“The two of you match,” Nathaniel finds himself saying with a wide grin, pointing at the photo of Marc smiling at the camera and holding a black cat up to his face. “Green eyes and black hair. Or I guess, fur, in your cat’s case.”

“They _do_ match!” Marinette laughs brightly.

“Awww, that’s so cute!” Rose squeals.

Nathaniel watches as Marc giggles and goes pink, and his heart skips a beat. Sitting this close against Marc’s side, he’s got a front-row seat when it comes to watching all of Marc’s cute reactions.

“Oh, we may look alike, but he doesn’t act it at all! He’s a grumpy little bastard!”

Alix snorts, “Do you really call your cat a bastard?”

“He is, though,” Marc retorts, and Nathaniel coughs out a laugh.

“No, don’t call him a bastard!” Rose gasps, scandalized.

“Little baby bastard cat.”

“Nooooo!” Rose says, blue eyes wide and looking teary. Behind her, Juleka has a hand over her mouth so she doesn’t start laughing at her girlfriend.

“Stinky bastard man.”

Marc says all this in the most casual way possible, completely uncharacteristic with his usual shy and stutterty mannerisms, and it’s fucking _hilarious_. Nathaniel can’t help it, he wheezes against Marc’s shoulder, and hears Alix howling in laughter alongside him.

The rest of the club start to laugh as well, Marc’s laugh warm and oh-so-close to Nathaniel’s ear, filling his chest with butterflies.

“W-What even is your cat’s name?” the artist asks, finally raising his head up to grin at the other boy.

Smiling sweetly, without missing a beat, Marc declares, “Chat Noir Jr.”

Nathaniel wheezes and buries his face in Marc’s shoulder again, smacking the table with one hand. “ _Chat Noir Jr.…_!”

Another round of laughter from the Art Club. Marinette laughs so hard, no sound is coming out of her mouth any longer.

“Yo, Mari, you good?” Alix asks bemusedly, slapping a hand on the half-Chinese girl’s back.

The pigtail-wearing girl just raises a finger up in a ‘wait a minute’ motion, trying to breath and calm herself down. The rest wait patiently for her to do so, breaking out into the occasional laugh or giggle from her infectious laughter. “I-It’s just…Hah…Adrien says he w-wishes he could have a black cat and name it Chat Noir…Pfffff…And here you are, with a cat like that, and you c-call it a _stinky little bastard_ —”

Aaaaand there she goes again.

Marc just shakes his head with a chuckle, locking eyes with Nathaniel, smiling. He gestures down to his phone, and Nathaniel nods, leaning in ever closer so the writer can show him more cat photos.

Nathaniel’s heart thrums quick in his chest, but he’s glad he can pass off his blush from being so close to Marc as just a lingering side-effect of laughing so hard a few minutes ago.

* * *

Nathaniel looks around his crushes’ room, curious and a little awed at the number of band posters plastered across the walls. A meow breaks his daze, and the artist blinks, looking down at a black fuzzball with big green eyes looking back up at him.

“That’s Chat Noir Jr.,” Marc introduces, kneeling down and picking his cat up, cradling it in his arms like it was a baby. “Chat, sweetie, this is Nath. Can you say hi?”

Chat Noir Jr. gives a meow at Nathaniel, staring back at him unblinkingly. Feeling a little uncomfortable, Nathaniel darts his eyes away. Then looks back. Then looks up at Marc. “I can see the resemblance,” he says jokingly, heart fluttering when Marc gives a loud and warm laugh in response.

“Here, here, watch this,” the writer giggles, taking one of his cat’s paws, making it move so it looks like his cat was waving hello. “Say hi, chaton.”

The cat meows. And then squirms in Marc’s grip. Marc lets go of its paw, and the cat reaches up to boop his nose. Marc giggles.

Nathaniel feels himself melt instantly, and he bites down the need to squeal and coo, because that was _too_ fucking adorable. Marc was absolutely _precious_ with his cat. Some might even say he was _pawsitively_ adorable.

As Nathaniel internally dies from his own lame pun, Marc leans down and sets his cat gently back on the ground. Chat Noir Jr. darts away, sliding under Marc's bed to hide.

“He’s a shy and antisocial one, sorry. He’ll come back out on his own time,” the writer smiles where his cat disappeared, fondly exasperated.

“It’s fine. I just feel honored I got to meet the little guy in person,” Nathaniel says, shaking his head bemusedly. “I never had a cat before.”

“I feel like you’d get along,” Marc says lightly, sitting at his desk and gesturing for Nathaniel to sit next to him. The artist takes the unoccupied chair, and Marc goes on with, “He takes a lot of cat naps, so you both have that in common.”

Nathaniel sputters, face going warm at the others’ gentle teasing, his heart doing a gymnastics routine at Marc’s soft expression. “H-Hey, I…Okay, that’s fair. Alix says I’m a cat all the time anyways…”

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean it in a bad way!” the writer giggles, hand up to press his knuckles against his mouth. “Just…You have some cat-like mannerisms, I guess?”

“Well, I too am a little bastard,” Nathaniel states, attempting for serious, and Marc laughs brightly in response.

“Don’t say that about yourself,” the dark-haired boy says, emerald eyes gleaming, poking Nathaniel on the shoulder with his pen. “Anyways, should we start? I’ve got a few ideas for the dialogue, if you’d like to see?”

“Yeah, of course,” the redhead nods, forcing himself to think about the comic and not the cute boy next to him.

* * *

Nathaniel wakes up to Chat Noir Jr. attempting to walk across his face. Again.

This was the third time tonight. Every time the redhead tried to drift off, the little bastard cat was attempting to murder him. He’s positive of it.

The redhead squints, sitting up, looking over at the clock. It’s past two in the morning. His gaze then lands on the boy besides him, looking as peaceful as an angel while he sleeps.

Nathaniel had been ecstatic, when Marc invited him over to a sleepover. A sleepover with his crush? With both of them being boys? He’d hit the jackpot.

Marc had offered Nathaniel take the bed, and Nathaniel had insisted Marc stay since he wasn’t going to kick the other out of his literal bed, and they compromised by both sleeping on the bed together. It had been the most elating and gayest thing Nathaniel has ever experienced. He felt like he was living in a daytime teenage drama show.

Then Chat Noir Jr. had jumped up to join them, which. Fine. Okay. It gave Nathaniel a little anxiety, unsure if he would accidentally roll over and crush the poor cat under his fat thighs during his sleep, but the cat simply curled up against Marc’s side without another issue.

And then Chat Noir Jr. decided that, no. He wasn’t going to stick with his owner. He was going to walk all over Nathaniel’s face, or attempt to sit on him, and possibly choke him to death.

The artist sighs and decides to go to the bathroom. Might as well do something productive instead of stare down the cat the entire night...

When he comes back five minutes later, the cat is comfortably curled up on his pillow. Oh. So that had been the issue.

Nathaniel just fishes out the extra pillow he brought with him from home, and scoots down a little. Instead of laying down so he was face-to-face with Marc, his face was now at chest level.

Eh. It’s fine. He’d wanted to pine and memorize the exact shapes of Marc’s face, so relaxed and at peace, but maybe another time…

* * *

Nathaniel wakes up, snuggled against Marc’s chest and clinging to him like a koala.

His face burns, and he scrambles back. No doubt his face is as red as his hair right now. “Oh, shit, I-I’m sorry!” he squeaks, unable to make eye contact with his crush. “I—I should’ve told you, I hug pillows and stuff in my sleep, and—”

Chat Noir Jr. takes that moment to meow loudly. Then the cat steps over Nathaniel’s legs, and leaps off the bed, running to the door and meowing at it some more.

“I-It’s fine, Nath,” Marc stutters out, quickly scrambling off the bed, “S-Sorry, Chat needs to go out.”

“Uh…Alright…” the artist manages to say, watching Marc as the boy exits the room. When he’s sure the other is gone, he buries his burning face in his hands with a groan.

Fuck. This was a catastrophe.

* * *

When Marc returns, he returns with his cat.

Chat Noir Jr. jumps back up on the bed and walks across it, the artist eyeing it curiously and a little warily. And then the cat steps onto Nathaniel’s thigh, kneads it, before turning in circles and promptly settling right on the artist’s lap.

“Um,” Nathaniel says, freezing in place, trying not to move. He looks cautiously back up at Marc. Marc stares back at him, eyes wide, looking completely gob smacked. “Uhhhhh, sorry, I—I’ve never had a cat before. Does this, uh. Does this mean something…?” Nathaniel asks tentatively.

“Y-Yes? Yes, it, um. It means he r-really likes you,” the writer says slowly, still stunned. “It’s—chaton doesn’t really warm up to people this quickly, though…”

“I mean, I’ve been to your room before? Maybe he’s used to seeing me?” Nathaniel offers, hands hovering in the air. He’s not sure how much of what he says holds weight, considering most of the time the cat hides itself away whenever Nathaniel stops by to work on the comic. “Does—does this mean I can pet him? Or would I wake him up and he’d hate that?”

“Y-You can pet him, yes. Just…be gentle.”

“Um...I’ve never had a cat before. Is there some special cat-petting etiquette I wouldn’t know?”

“Just stroke your hand gently over their fur…scratch them behind the ears…Don’t use a heavy hand, like you would with a dog.”

The redhead bites his lip, and carefully, slowly, settles his hand on the cat’s head, giving it light scratches behind the ears. Chat Noir Jr. gives a little meow, and butts his head against Nathaniel’s palm. The artist feels his heart fill with a rush of love and serotonin.

“Awwww,” he coos softly, gently rubbing a hand down the cat’s head, petting its side.

“There you are,” Marc whispers, standing next to Nathaniel’s side of the bed. The artist looks over his shoulder, noting how Marc’s smile was just as gentle as his voice. “Just like that.”

Nathaniel grins, face warm, as he turns back around and goes back to scratching behind the cat behind the ears. Then he scratches slightly around the side of the little guy’s face. Chat Noir Jr. starts to purr, then, the sound rumbling across his little body. Nathaniel finds himself inexplicably tearing up.

“I love him?” he asks, voice wavering, as cat rumbles under his hand. “Oh my gosh, he’s _adorable_.”

Marc giggles, leaning over Nathaniel’s shoulder, joining Nathaniel in petting the black cat. Their hands brush as they do, and Marc’s torso is warm against his back, and Nathaniel has the startling realization that Marc is draped over him and touching his legs as he pets his cat.

Chat Noir Jr. was definitely trying to kill him. Nathaniel can feel his soul ascending from his body in that exact moment.

He decides on that very day that his favorite animals are cats.

* * *

“Babe! Chat Noir Jr. is being a little bastard again…!” Nathaniel calls loudly into the apartment, glaring down at the fuzzball sitting and smugly licking its chops in front of him.

“What’s the stinky man done now?” Marc asks, popping his head into the kitchen with a grin.

“Chaton stole a piece of chicken right off the fucking counter. Like, parkoured up that shit and ran off with it like he was Robin Hood,” the redhead deadpans.

His husband laughs, bright and loud. “Oh, Chat! You naughty little cat! C’mere, I’m putting you in kitty jail.”

“Make the little bastard pay for his chicken crimes,” Nathaniel nods solemnly, sticking his tongue out at the fluffball, who meows petulantly in response.

Marc giggles and re-adjusts the cat in his arms. “Don’t worry, darling, he will.” His husband walks further into the kitchen to give him a peck on the lips. “Thanks for cooking today, again. You’re the best husband ever.”

“Don’t I know it,” the artist winks back with a crooked smile. “Now, go put the old man cat in his kitty jail box.”

“Don’t call him an old man! He’s still nine years young!” the writer chastises with a wide grin. “See you in an hour?”

“Yeah, I might be done with dinner by then.”

“Marvelous,” Marc chirps, leaning in for another kiss. Nathaniel tilts his head and deepens it, his husband sighing against his lips.

Then Chat Noir Jr. yowls in Marc’s arms.

“Tetchy, tetchy,” Nathaniel tuts, waving a finger in front of the feline’s face. The cat leans out and bats it away, and he grabs that little paw to squish the toe beans. “Alright, mister, your Papa’s gonna have your punishment for you.”

“Stop provoking him, Nath.”

“Not provoking, I’m _disciplining_. There’s a difference.”

Marc rolls his eyes, a deeply fond look on his face. “See you later.”

“Later, babe.”

Nathaniel stops to watch his husband and their cat leave the kitchen, his heart full and warm.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Marc adopted Chat Noir Jr. not long after Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared. Marc found him abandoned and half-starved, looking for scraps around his neighborhood.
> 
> When Marc and Nathaniel move in together and get married, Chat Noir Jr. inevitably joins them. He’s their child, for the time being.


End file.
